One of the most authentic use of an original
song. Deva has beautifully worked on this number, the 2nd para sounds
brilliant and is original too. But could've avoided the use of the word
'alabalaba' in Telugu. A sure give-away!
This Venkatesh-Anjala Jhaveri starrer
'Preminchkundaam ra' had composer Mahesh
tuning all but this song! This song (Pellikala vachesinde bala) was
composed by guest composer Mani Sharma. This song was instrumental in establishing Mani Sharma as one
of the most sought after composers in the Telugu film industry!
5
Manasemo [Film: Yuvaraju
(2000)]
<TC>
Composer: Ramana Gogula
Inspired by Shawn Colvin's 1996 number 'Sunny came home' from the album
'A few small repairs'!
Its rather interesting to note that the main tune of the Telugu song appears merely for a few seconds in the original but the similarity is striking...making it a direct lift!
I usually do not prefer listing lifts from one Indian language to
other, but in this unfortunate case, one of the greatest Telugu director
seems to have been taken for a ride by composer Mani Sharma. Why couldnt Bapu get Ilayaraja himself to compose the music,
considering Ilayaraja's popularity across all the 4 southern states?
Johnny Wakelin's Muhammad Ali-inspired track, 'In Zaire' is
already popular in India thanks to Jatin Lalit reworking it as 'Kaise
don' in Kabhi haan Kabhi naa (1993). But Telugu Director/
Composer SV Krishna Reddy perhaps liked the original so much
that he decided to 'use' it too, for the 1997 film, 'Aahwaanam',
in the track, 'Minsare minsare'. This one's a straight, stupid
lift.
12
Ee reyi
teeyanidi[Film:
Chitti Chellelu (1970)]
<TC>
Composer: Saluri Rajeswara Rao
Mighty direct rip-off of a French
track titled, 'L'Amour Est Bleu', composed by André Popp with
lyrics by Pierre Cour, in 1967.
The original was first performed by
Vicky Leandros (appearing as Vicky) as Luxembourg's entry
in the Eurovision Song Contest of 1967. Now, how on earth
would have Saluri Rajeshwara Rao heard this French track? No, in all
probabilities, he must have heard the track's cover version
by Paul Mauriat, 'Love is blue' that was so popular in the
US, that it was number-one hit in the US, for five weeks
1968! Incidentally,
Telugu star Pawan Kalyan's 2003 cult
debacle, Johnny, with music by Ramana Gogula - the techie
turned composer who's still known for his 'Satyabhama dheere
chalna' (which he composed along with Kush Khanna, as a
reggae band named Misty Rhythms) had a remix of 'Ee reyi
teeyanidi'!
Listen to Johnny's
Ee reyi teeyanidi
13
Atharaku (Athadu Title Song)[Film:
Athadu (2005)]
<TC>
Composer: Manisharma
Ripped off from the main tune of Tracy
Chapman's 'Montains
o'Things', from her eponymous 1988 debut album.
Who would have ever thought
Tracy
Chapman's music is relevant for Indian films? Telugu
composer Manisharma sure think so and crafts an fabulous
title track for the Mahesh Babu super hit, Athadu. The song,
'Adharaku', uses the main tune of Tracy Chapman's 'Montains
o'Things', from her eponymous 1988 debut album. Its a nifty
piece of plagiarism, uncredited, of course, but very
interestingly done.
14
Oka matundi[Film:
I Love You (1979)]
<TC>
Composer: Sathyam
Inspired by the song, 'There's a kind
of hush'.
Oka matundi:
There's a Kind of Hush:
The song is 'Oka matundi' from the 1979
Chiranjeevi starrer, I Love You. It's one of those early
Chiranjeevi films where he had fantastic character roles and
was identified for his acting skills. This film has him
playing a womaniser and later, an impotent man - something
that he can't even dream of doing in these days of his
superstardom. The film had music by Chellapilla Satyam
(usually known as Sathyam) who is best remembered as RD
Burman of Andhra Pradesh (not sure why or how, though). One
of the songs was 'Oka matundi'. The song's tune is a direct
and interestingly adapted inspiration from the track, 'There's a Kind
of Hush', originally written by Les Reed and Geoff Stephens
for 'The New Vaudeville Band' on the album, Winchester
Cathedral, in 1966. The song was later covered by The
Carpenters and Engelbert Humperdinck and it went on to
become a smash hit then.
One of the commenters to
my review of Andari Banduvaya, Wootshire, pointed out
that another song from the same soundtrack, 'Roju roju ninne'
was lifted off Jaz-Z's 1999 track, Big Pimpin'. I heard the
source and of course, it is a lift - the prominent musical
piece in the source has been converted by Anoop into the
main tune, in its Telugu avatar. Guilty as charged.
But, here's where the story takes a curious turn! Jay-Z's
song was from his album, 'Vol. 3... Life and Times of S.
Carter' (1999) and was produced by Timbaland. The song was
in a legal mess with charges that Timbaland has sampled
without permission an Egyptian track called, 'Khusara'. And
yes, it sure does - the most memorable part of the original
- an alluring piece of music with strong middle eastern
sound and flute - has been pimped directly in Big Pimpin'!
This is the same piece that Anoop converted into the main
Telugu song too, with lyrics! The original song, 'Khusara'
was first part of the 1957 Egyptian film, 'Fata Ahlamy',
which had music by composer Baliegh Hamdy and was sung by
Egyptian singer Abdel Halim Hafez. The same tune was later
remixed by Egyptian percussionist and composer,
Hossam
Ramzy in 1995, for the album, 'The Best of Abdul Halim
Hafiz'. It is believed widely that Timbaland sourced the
track, without permission, from Hossam's rearranged version,
in another album, "The Best of Bellydance from Morocco,
Egypt, Lebanon, Turkey". Reason? Another Timbaland track
titled, 'Raise Up', which he composed for Petey Pablo
samples yet another song from the same album - the song
titled, "Enta Omri (I)". Two songs sampled by the same
producer? Sounds fishy and like many cases covered in ItwoFS!
So, in essence, even if Anoop may have heard his
inspiration from Jay-Z's Timbaland produced track, his
inspiration is from a 1957 Egyptian track, indirectly!
16
Bujjikonda[Film:
Bumper Offer (2009)]
<TC>
Composer:
Raghu Kunche
Inspired by Linda
Linda, by Dutch pop-rock band, Tee Set, released in 1978.
Bujjikonda:
Linda Linda (Tee Set):
An
interesting bonus from an earlier post on
Milliblog is
this comment, that refers to Linda Linda's direct and blatant lift in
Telugu. Composer Raghu Kunche creates a complete song called 'Bujjikonda' (from
the 2009 film, Bumper Offer) out of the original by cleverly using the mukhda of
the original as the Telugu version's antara and vice versa! And, the whole song
gets a pulsating background too! Interesting lift!
I did not like Businessman's music as much as I did Dookudu's (as is evident from
my review), but what made sit up is a comment on Milliblog's Facebook page
about Pilla chao's origins. The original is a legendary Italian revolutionary
song named (surprise, surprise!!), Bella Ciao. It looks like Thaman has directly
lifted the Telugu song from a techno version of Bella Ciao. Interestingly, the
original composer of Bella Ciao remains unknown, though recently, Bella Ciao's
roots are traced to a Jewish song titled 'Koilen' that was first recorded by
Mishka Ziganoff in 1919. Though this seems like an adaptation of a folk song
(with unknown credits), it would have been good if Thaman had not passed it off
as his own composition. And yes, the name could have sounded less like the
original - Pilla chao vs. Bella Ciao?
Strange that Thaman chose to lift twice in the same soundtrack! The song 'Chandamama'
seems to have been crafted meticulously after South African composer Lebo M's
most famous song, 'He lives in you' that was used in the soundtrack of the
sequel to Lion King. The song was also part of the CD, Rhythm Of The Pride
Lands, produced by Lebo M and Jay Rifkin. Thaman's Telugu version piles on the
background music to glitzy levels, but the base tune seems largely intact,
particularly the catchy 'Oh oh eeyo' humming.
